Concord, NH—Although movie cameras are not allowed inside North Korea to record scenes of starvation and mass suffering at the hands of the North Korean regime, South Korean movie director, Kim Tae-gyoon, has managed to take audiences directly into North Korea—through his landmark film, Crossing.
Crossing is a raw and powerful film. It is based on a true story about a North Korean family’s wrenching experience of succumbing to North Korea’s harsh, malnourished existence and at the hands of the brutal security forces and Gulag system that brought the wife and son of the family to a tragic end.
The surviving husband, Yoo Sang-jun—the central character in the film—now lives in South Korea, and was so traumatized that he still refuses to watch the 2008 film.
Greg Scarlatoiu, the new Executive Director of the United States Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) says that while there are 24.5 million people in North Korea, only 20,000 people have managed to escape through third countries then are resettled in South Korea.
Scarlatoiu spoke at a recent screening of at the Red River Theatres in Concord, NH, along with another prominent North Korea expert, Ambassador Robert R. King, Special Envoy for North Korea.
There are only two escape routes from the ‘Hermit Kingdom’: Across the 38th parallel, which is impossible to cross as it is heavily mined; and via the treacherous northern border with China, either through the Mongolian desert or by crossing the rivers, where bodies are often found along the shores.
Eighty percent who have managed to escape are women, and 90 percent of them fall victim to sex trafficking, or are sold in forced marriages or slavery, where they are subjected to overwhelming physical and emotional abuse—much worse than in their own country.
Because the Chinese communist regime continues to violate its United Nations refugee obligations, it forces the repatriation of North Koreans, where they are then subjected to incarceration in labor camps and at times, execution.
Scarlatoiu says that most human traffickers are North Koreans or ethnic Koreans living in China, who use economic enticements to lure North Korean women to China.
The forced repatriation by the Chinese regime has a long and complicated history, says Scarlatoiu.
During the Mao era, Chinese people fleeing to North Korea were forcibly repatriated back to China. Now the Chinese regime is reciprocating the ‘favor.’
Though the U.S. policy towards North Korea has placed peace and nuclear disarmament as a precedent over human rights issues, Scarlatoiu indicated that there is still room to maneuver. As such, he introduced HRNK’s 10-point policy recommendation to the Obama administration, aiming to improve the plight and conditions of people in North Korea.
The recommendations include, among other things, bilateral and multilateral approaches to human rights issues, rather than just nuclear disarmament; establishing a First Asylum Program for North Korean refugees, similar to the one for Vietnam, and providing food aid that reaches the hungry.
Scarlatoiu and Ambassador King indicated that despite being one of the most impoverished nations on the planet, North Korea has been reluctant to follow China’s economic model.
There have been efforts by the South Korean government to improve the North’s economic conditions, such as under the South’s Sunshine Policy that lasted for the decade until 2008, but it was eventually rejected. Scarlatoiu says that if North Korea’s economy were to open up, it would mean the end of the Kim II Sung dynasty.
It has been hypothesized that the Chinese regime fears facing a flood of refugees across its borders if the North Korean economy collapses. However, in recent years, there has been an escalation of cross-border economic activities, where China has taken advantage of North Korea’s ultra-low labor costs.
China is also a major provider of fuel to the North Korean regime as well as luxury goods to its elites. Whether or not the fear of a flood of refugees is still relevant, Scarlatoiu indicated that Beijing is happy to keep the status quo.
“The ‘Hermit Kingdom’ of North Korea goes to extraordinary lengths to hide the shocking truth about the starvation, repression, and cruel imprisonment of its own people. There are few countries on the face of the earth, where human rights abuses are as massive and systemic as in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation that sponsored the screening in collaboration with the Social Justice Institute of the University of New Hampshire School Of Law, and the Red River Theatres..
“The Lantos Foundation hopes that this screening and unforgettable movie, Crossing, will educate people and inspire them to get involved on behalf of the suffering people of North Korea,” said Swett at the screening.
Though the film is praised for its dramatic realism—the Wall Street Journal called it “a ‘Schindler’s List’ for North Korea—many people in the know eluded to the fact that the actual conditions were much harsher than the film depicted.
Crossings was South Korea’s official entry for the 2009 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film category.
Crossing is a raw and powerful film. It is based on a true story about a North Korean family’s wrenching experience of succumbing to North Korea’s harsh, malnourished existence and at the hands of the brutal security forces and Gulag system that brought the wife and son of the family to a tragic end.
The surviving husband, Yoo Sang-jun—the central character in the film—now lives in South Korea, and was so traumatized that he still refuses to watch the 2008 film.
Greg Scarlatoiu, the new Executive Director of the United States Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) says that while there are 24.5 million people in North Korea, only 20,000 people have managed to escape through third countries then are resettled in South Korea.
Scarlatoiu spoke at a recent screening of at the Red River Theatres in Concord, NH, along with another prominent North Korea expert, Ambassador Robert R. King, Special Envoy for North Korea.
There are only two escape routes from the ‘Hermit Kingdom’: Across the 38th parallel, which is impossible to cross as it is heavily mined; and via the treacherous northern border with China, either through the Mongolian desert or by crossing the rivers, where bodies are often found along the shores.
Eighty percent who have managed to escape are women, and 90 percent of them fall victim to sex trafficking, or are sold in forced marriages or slavery, where they are subjected to overwhelming physical and emotional abuse—much worse than in their own country.
Because the Chinese communist regime continues to violate its United Nations refugee obligations, it forces the repatriation of North Koreans, where they are then subjected to incarceration in labor camps and at times, execution.
Scarlatoiu says that most human traffickers are North Koreans or ethnic Koreans living in China, who use economic enticements to lure North Korean women to China.
The forced repatriation by the Chinese regime has a long and complicated history, says Scarlatoiu.
During the Mao era, Chinese people fleeing to North Korea were forcibly repatriated back to China. Now the Chinese regime is reciprocating the ‘favor.’
Though the U.S. policy towards North Korea has placed peace and nuclear disarmament as a precedent over human rights issues, Scarlatoiu indicated that there is still room to maneuver. As such, he introduced HRNK’s 10-point policy recommendation to the Obama administration, aiming to improve the plight and conditions of people in North Korea.
The recommendations include, among other things, bilateral and multilateral approaches to human rights issues, rather than just nuclear disarmament; establishing a First Asylum Program for North Korean refugees, similar to the one for Vietnam, and providing food aid that reaches the hungry.
Scarlatoiu and Ambassador King indicated that despite being one of the most impoverished nations on the planet, North Korea has been reluctant to follow China’s economic model.
There have been efforts by the South Korean government to improve the North’s economic conditions, such as under the South’s Sunshine Policy that lasted for the decade until 2008, but it was eventually rejected. Scarlatoiu says that if North Korea’s economy were to open up, it would mean the end of the Kim II Sung dynasty.
It has been hypothesized that the Chinese regime fears facing a flood of refugees across its borders if the North Korean economy collapses. However, in recent years, there has been an escalation of cross-border economic activities, where China has taken advantage of North Korea’s ultra-low labor costs.
China is also a major provider of fuel to the North Korean regime as well as luxury goods to its elites. Whether or not the fear of a flood of refugees is still relevant, Scarlatoiu indicated that Beijing is happy to keep the status quo.
“The ‘Hermit Kingdom’ of North Korea goes to extraordinary lengths to hide the shocking truth about the starvation, repression, and cruel imprisonment of its own people. There are few countries on the face of the earth, where human rights abuses are as massive and systemic as in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation that sponsored the screening in collaboration with the Social Justice Institute of the University of New Hampshire School Of Law, and the Red River Theatres..
“The Lantos Foundation hopes that this screening and unforgettable movie, Crossing, will educate people and inspire them to get involved on behalf of the suffering people of North Korea,” said Swett at the screening.
Though the film is praised for its dramatic realism—the Wall Street Journal called it “a ‘Schindler’s List’ for North Korea—many people in the know eluded to the fact that the actual conditions were much harsher than the film depicted.
Crossings was South Korea’s official entry for the 2009 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film category.
